Updates to Our Plagiarism Prevention Tool

Earlier this week, I shared some information on the recent updates we’ve made to Blackboard Learn. I wanted to take a moment to give you some additional details on the SafeAssign integration that we’ve rolled out, as there has been a lot of discussion around anti-plagiarism tools and what Blackboard is doing to help with plagiarism prevention and teaching students about intellectual property.

First, some background: SafeAssign has been an important part of instructional programs for nearly a decade. It provides students with the ability to check their work submissions against a comprehensive index of other student papers and Internet materials to see if there are phrases of text that indicate a “match.” In this day and age where information is so accessible via online resources, this mechanism helps remind students of the importance of giving credit to authors who originate text or ideas through the citation of those sources. It also provides students with the opportunity to fine-tune their assignment so they are not penalized for plagiarism.

Instructors can configure assignments so they are scanned through SafeAssign for deeper investigation. Results are nicely aggregated from multiple sources, but it is always up to the instructor to decide the best course of action based on SafeAssign results.

Through our latest updates to Blackboard Learn, SafeAssign has been integrated into the core workflows of the Assignment tool. No more separate assignment types to manage. No more deleting multiple student attempts. And there is a seamless integration with all of the Blackboard Learn Assignment features. For example, high-level SafeAssign results are displayed directly within the Inline Grading interface, and more information on each result is a click away on the Originality Report.

Here is how results are now displayed:

The SafeAssign Originality Report has been revamped to provide a more modern and interactive interface that is user friendly. Students can view potential matches to their assignments, multiple attachments, and multiple submissions to the same assignment all within the new interface and improved integration.

Here is what the Originality Report looked like in the old interface outside of the core workflow:

Here is what the Originality Report looks like now:

Better? I am very proud of this latest integration with core Blackboard Learn features as it represents improvements that our customers have asked for. It saves schools money, instructors time, and is easy for students to use. This type of functionality ensures that instructors can give students accurate feedback while promoting academic integrity and providing the best educational experience for learners of all levels.